WHAT’S DOIN’, BASTARDS?

What really happened at the Overlook Hotel? Stanley Kubrick would not direct another film for seven years after he wrapped production on THE SHINING. I think this film is a masterpiece, a true deconstruction of the horror genre at a time when it was quickly becoming cheap and easy, full of slashers and gore instead of true frights. When it was originally released however, audiences saw the film with a different ending. Most familiar with Kubrickian lore know that the obsessive director re-cut the film and removed nearly two minutes from the ending, despite the fact it was already in theatres. Though those moments of celluloid would not be seen again, the pages for those moments have reappeared thanks to a site called theoverlookhotel.com, run by TOY STORY 3 director Lee Unkrich (and brought to our attention bySlate).

If we can boil down those pages to their most basic summary it’s this: Overlook manager Stuart Ullman is visiting Wendy and Danny in the hospital. He tells Wendy that investigators “didn’t find the slightest evidence of anything at all out of the ordinary” and invites Wendy and Danny to come live with him in Los Angeles (creepy) and tosses a yellow ball to Danny before leaving (remember the rolling yellow ball?). The film then ends with this:

Slatereported that Screenwriter Diane Johnson had said that Kubrick “”had a soft spot for Wendy and Danny.“ And that The scene explains “the importance of the yellow ball and the role of the hotel manager in the plot,” she said. Glad it got the ax, because it is a little too well tied together. It robs us of the mystery of the hotel and almost cheapens the film. What do you Bastards think?